Page:A Book of Czech Verse.pdf/99

 Farewell. So, if we never meet again, Then this was enough: a fragrant memory. Farewell. And if we pledged to meet again, Perhaps another guest would come—not we.

The time was sweet—but all things have an end. Then toll no more: I know that bitterness, The kiss, the handkerchief, the siren and the bell, A smile or two, and then the loneliness.

Farewell. And if we never speak again, Let there remain a little souvenir, Airy as a handkerchief, simpler than a card, Deceptive, like the scent of gilt veneer.

And if I saw what others have not seen, So much the better, swallow, homeward on the wing: You showed me South, where hidden lies your nest; Your fate it is to fly, my fate to sing.

Farewell. And if this was indeed the end, So much the worse for hope whose life is gone; For if we wish to meet, then never part. Farewell—a handkerchief—and fate come on.